Hiding No More
by BlueMoonsAndTooSoons
Summary: In which Draco and Hermione have a secret conversation and scare McGonagall half to death with a very open display of affection.


This is only intended to be a a one shot, but I might follow it up with two more chapters, just to thoroughly catalouge the progress of their relationship.

* * *

Whatever they had was casual, and that's all it was meant to be. They smiled warmly at each other in the halls and sometimes they talked to each other in public, but nothing they did caused much suspicion. It was always just a heart-warming representation of what House Unity looked like. Two young people, formerly opposed, now friends; an example for feuding children everywhere. Mcgonagall had even called them both into her office to congratulate them on overcoming their differences and being cordial with each other. Hermione laughed and Draco smirked. Just because they could stand each other in public didn't mean they were friends.

But it might mean that they had secrets.

"Did you hear her when she got so excited about us being friendly? It was as if she'd gotten a puppy for Christmas." Draco laughed his chest rumbling against Hermione's cheek. "Wouldn't she just burst if she knew the whole story?"

"I don't know. I bet she wouldn't actually like it very much." Hermione's fingers lazily stroked his shoulder and chest, the plain white T-shirt wrinkling a bit under her persistent massage. He suddenly gripped those fingers with his free hand, the one that wasn't wrapped around her, and kissed them gently.

"You don't think she'd like that we're extremely interested in each other?" He asked coyly.

"Well you know how it is with these things. Young people are so fickle in relationships. We might break up and have a different kind of house warfare on our hands." She pointed out reasonably, her logical brain seeing the future that neither one very much fancied.

"Yes, but that requires breaking up first. Is that a likely course of action for you?"

"No. You?"

"Of course not. So then it's perfectly reasonable to assume she'd lay an egg." Draco settled back onto the tree, unaware that he had tensed up. Whenever Hermione spoke so casually about the fate of most teenage relationships, as if it could possibly happen to them, he always got nervous. As if she was prefacing the break-up with statistics, something he didn't count as being beneath her.

Sitting outside in the evening, the sun down beneath the trees and a splash of color just barely outlining the forest's shape had become their favorite thing to do. They would sneak away from everyone just to manage an opportunity to hold each other and watch stars emerge from the darkness. It had become their tradition and their safety, the place in which most of their relationship had taken place. Just to talk, sometimes to kiss, often times to fight, but the majority of the time was spent genuinely enjoying each other's company. They were better suited for each other than they had initially thought, a fact that surprised each of them remarkably.

"Do you know what you'll do after Hogwarts yet?" Hermione sniffed, snuggling closer.

"No. I haven't even thought about it since the last time we talked about it." Draco admitted, sighing discontentedly. "Don't lay into me, alright? There just aren't a lot of options when you're in my situation."

"That's not true. You would be a welcome asset to any company set." Hermione answered him and Draco thought again how grateful he was that she forgot about his discrepancies every so often.

"Not with some of my bodily markings."

"Oh right. Well, even if your scars and tattoos reveal that aspect of your life, surely based on your current modeled character you can achieve anything you like." She hummed quietly, playing with grass that caught itself up in her finger tips and twined itself around each one in succession.

"I would agree with you if I still had my resources, but without money I can't very well impress upon anybody that I've changed. People are always more broad minded about you when you pay them to be so." He smirked as she huffed in indignation. "I have enough to float around for a while. Maybe travel some. Would you go with me if I went traveling?"

"Would you have enough to take me with you?"

"We wouldn't go far."

"It isn't worth it to travel if we don't go far. You're asking me to put everything on hold and just disappear with you?" Her tone left much to be desired, but Draco deigned to answer it anyway.

"Sure. When you put it in those words it doesn't sound so glamorous, but it would be fun for just the two of us to run off…" he was silenced when she sat up, ending their intimate pose and clutching her knees, the grass she had been holding falling on her shoes like fairy dust. Everything in his head got fuzzy as he stared at her back, that fear or losing her once again fresh in his mind.

She cleared her throat and began to talk. "I was going to tell you as soon as I heard, but Harry advised me to wait and see if the situation didn't change first. But it looks as if it's going to happen, so I think you should know… I got a job. Kingsley offered it to me about two weeks ago, and said he would hold it for me until I got out of school, but he encouraged me to finish my education privately and start immediately. I wrote the letter this afternoon, but I haven't sent it. I want it, Draco, and there is no reason I shouldn't start now."

His brows furrowed as he considered her words. "No reason at all?"

"Not any concrete ones. All of my friends have advised I do it, promised to write, and visit sometimes. I'm at peace with that. But what will I do in the evenings when the stars are coming out and the air is still warm and my arms long to wrap around you… Who would I talk to and argue with and…"

He pulled her back from her sitting position and into his arms. He kissed her cheek and hair and lips and nose and she didn't worry and everything was beautiful. Her arms held his and they lay in the growing darkness, shadows lining the valleys of their bodies as they stayed together. "You should go if you want to, and I won't stop you or argue against it, but I would miss this too. It's become a habit."

"I could ask for an extension or something. Maybe take a month off after we finish school and travel with you. School ends in two months and then we have the summer holiday. We could do something." She seemed to be justifying it in her mind, the struggle to enjoy her youth and love or forward her career and life. One she saw in shades of red and orange and brown, the other in blues and grays and silvers, but currently all she wanted to see was this blonde and fair boy, with the stormy eyes and the deep thoughts and weary smile, and in the end she didn't care what she did if she got him by her side through it all.

He sighed into her hair and let the smell her of her and the woods and the night fill up his senses. They were out past curfew and the early spring evening was getting too cold to be comfortable but he lingered over his thoughts. "I would do it, if I were in your shoes. I would take the job and start life. I'm kind of jealous of you for that opportunity. No one is exactly jumping to give me anything."

"I could talk to Kingsley and maybe arrange something. You have so many skills that would be useful…"

"I appreciate that but I will refuse you vehemently. Any job I get will be on my terms, not because anyone sweet talked my way."

She huffed. "You are so full of contradictions. You were okay with buying your way to a position, but not letting me put in a good word?"

He smirked again and she secretly loved it. "The difference is it would be my work that got me the job, and my resources. No offence, but I don't want your help, even if I need it."

"None taken. I understand some things about men. But what will you do? I know I've been mentioning your future a lot, and kind of pushing you, so I'm sorry, but I am concerned."

Draco found his moment to distance himself from her now. As often as they discussed serious things, this was the first time they were talking about the immediate future and the plans that would undoubtedly happen. There was a sense of realistic urgency and honesty that he couldn't ignore even if he tried. "I'll get a job, although probably not a high paying, respected Ministry job like yours. I'll work, maybe start a company. I still want to travel though, while I'm young and interested in the world."

Hermione pressed her lips into a thin line. "Do you actually want me to go with you?"

"Of course." He kissed her again. "I don't think it would be nearly so interesting to travel without you and your head full of facts."

"Would you mind waiting a year? We've only been seeing each other for a few months, and as much as I would like to enjoy everything right away, we can't. If we're still serious about each other in a year, by all means we should travel." She said it quietly, but Draco understood the implication.

"Do you think we wouldn't be serious if we traveled?"

"You're going to think this is terribly archaic." She looked away from his face and blushed, adding the innocence to her face that he loved.

"Just say it." He urged.

"I don't want to give myself to you that soon. I really enjoy spending time with you and we suit each other really well, but I still have to set boundaries, and it is too soon in our relationship for that. I'm not saying you wouldn't value me if I let you have it all, but part of my mystery to you would be lost, and I still need to have that to myself."

"Even if I loved you completely, you wouldn't want to disappear into France with me for a month?"

"I would certainly want to, but I'm choosing not to. I respect myself and you and I'm going to keep maintaining myself until this is more than just serious and committed. I would want absolute proof."

Draco squinted. "You're saying, essentially, that you are waiting until marriage."

"I was skirting around that, yes. But you said the "m" word, not me. So I didn't technically bring it up!"

"I don't care that you brought it up." He laughed. "It doesn't scare me."

"Really?" She asked, eyebrows raised in semi-disbelief.

"Well, it does a little, but what male isn't slightly concerned when discussing the biggest commitment of his life?" His hair ruffled a bit as a breeze blew past them, enveloping them in its crisp embrace. "But you basically don't want to go traveling."

"I want to, but I won't." She corrected.

"Glad that's settled then." His voice had become somewhat sorrowful and bitter, and she could see that he felt rejection from her refusal, even though she had tried to be kind about it.

"I'll miss you if I leave." She added, trying to smooth things over.

"I would miss you too." His voice remained flat, and Hermione could see that he was thinking, and that his heart wasn't fully in it. Although it hurt, she knew she would have to give him time. So they might as well split for the night, and she would let him think about it as long as he needed to.

"Speaking of being missed…" She started up. "We should probably go back to the castle and—"

Draco grabbed her hand and kissed it gently before pulling her back down so she lay against his side completely. "Just give me one more minute."

"I thought you were angry." She asked confused.

"No, just jaded. But I still think you're the prettiest girl with a smart-aleck attitude I've ever known. I'm not about to let that stop me from kissing you now."

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer still, letting her rise up to meet his lips, her back arching and her hands coming up to his neck and cheeks. In that moment they were eternally together, and every second of that embrace would last forever in their minds; the innocent meeting of souls under a tree of small leaves and tangled branches. Even after they broke apart and stood up and tried to straighten out their appearances, it sat in their hearts and refused to leave, welding itself into what made them who they were.

Hermione noticed now that he was increasingly prone to touching her or randomly kissing her as they walked back to the castle, making it the sweetest stroll she had ever known. People might see if they looked out the windows or were out in the halls after curfew, but she refused to let that bother her. As they came to the place where they would part ways, Draco grabbed her face and pulled her close, inhaling her and kissing her with a finality that answered all her questions. He wanted her to get the job, he would love her through it all, and he would wait a year if he had to, because he wasn't going to lose her ever, not if he could help it.

"Oh my! Mr. Malfoy and… Miss Granger!"

The two broke apart suddenly at the sudden outcry of Professor McGonagall, who stood just a short distance away and was staring at them with an intense expression of shock. Her wand arm had dropped, but the light at the end was bright enough to illuminate them fully and the shadows that came from the peaks in her face were enough to add dramatic effect to moment.

"Good evening professor. Malfoy and I were just…" Hermione started, but she looked to Draco to finish.

"Discussing eggs." He smirked. "And how to have them. I should be going. Goodnight Hermione. See you tomorrow, professor."

He kissed her soundly one last time and she caught the sparkle in his eye and it filled her dreams.


End file.
